Potkar was picked up by the military police from Nimblak on Wednesday and handed over to the Lonavla city police, under the jurisdiction of the Pune rural police, on Thursday.

One man from Ahmednagar has been detained by the Pune rural police over allegations of providing fake answer sheets to aspirants appearing for the entrance exam for the sailor cadre at the Indian naval station (INS) Shivaji, in Lonavla.

The man was identified as Prakash Rajaram Potkar, 24, a resident of Nimblak, Ahmednagar. Potkar was picked up by the military police from Nimblak on Wednesday and handed over to the Lonavla city police, under the jurisdiction of the Pune rural police, on Thursday.

His involvement in the exam came to light after an aspirant was caught carrying a pre-filled answer sheet. The sailor cadre aspirants have to appear for an exam that has 100 questions, police said. The aspirant was caught on Wednesday, the first day of the three-day exam schedule.

Potkar allegedly demanded Rs 7,00,000 from every person he provided the fake answer sheets to. The number of people who fell for his scam, however, could not be ascertained. "The aspirants were caught before the exam began. They brought him to us and we took him to court with an application for 24 hours detention as preventive action in order to prevent him from repeating his actions," said senior police inspector BR Patil of Lonavla city police station.

Potkar, son of a farmer from Nimblak, was lodged in Yerawada Central jail under Section 151(3) of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows detention of a person for 24 hours in order to prevent him/her from committing cognizable offences. He will be released on Friday when the exam concludes.